Initial Experience in Ion Production Using an Ultra-high Power Density Method

Abstract

A mechanism to adjust the cross-section of the arc column of a cold cathode P.I.G. ion source has been developed. The cross-section of the plasma column, and therefore the electron flux density can be adjusted over a wide range with a fixed ion source power. We have achieved in producing an arc column with power density up to about 370 klV/cnr and about 140 kW/cm. With this ultra-high power density, a great improvement on ion production lias been obtained. The peak beam currents of the doubly cnargedlie-3 and He-4 have been increased, from 150 uA to 750 uA and from 50 uA to 400 jiA respectively, using our compact cyclotron. **

Trapping secondary electrons in ExB drift for an alpha generating penning ion source

“…The purpose of this test stand is to characterize the PIG source for α-particle extraction, and to study the plasma physics within the ion source to understand why various operational modes correspond to better or worse ion output. Though there's not much literature on the use of penning ion sources for α production, there are a couple that showed ion extraction of many 100 µA [2,3]. These experiments may show that such sources can be used as replacements for expensive ECR ion sources currently used in medical accelerators [4].…”